TRIUMPH LAND SPEED RECORD UPDATE

18/09/2016

Tricky course conditions at the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats have once again proved challenging during the latest stage of the Triumph Motorcycles Land Speed Record attempt. With clear sun and virtually no wind, rider Guy Martin set off from mile marker 9 to record his FIM-required certification run.

Setting off smoothly, Guy was making good power in mile one when the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner lost traction on a damp section of the salt surface, causing the rear of the machine to step out of line and the streamliner to go down on the course. Guy was completely uninjured in the incident, however the streamliner will now require a full inspection before any further runs can take place.

“It’s one of the challenges of Land speed racing - the salt surface can be so unpredictable. We’ll fully inspect the streamliner and get ready for the next phase of our attempt” commented Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer Matt Markstaller.

Rider Guy Martin added “It’s all part the job boy, isn’t it? Feeling our way. I guess if it was an easy thing to do everyone would have done it by now. So we’ll get a plan sorted and get on with the next go at it as soon as we get the chance.”

17/09/2016

TT Legend Guy Martin and the Triumph Motorcycles Land Speed team have spent today making final preparations for the next stage of their Land Speed Record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Plans for the day included the required FIM certification pass at 300mph.

However, on heading up to the start of the course, with the streamliner under tow the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner passed over a rut in the track at the two mile marker.The rut and the soft surface caused the Streamliner to fall onto its side. Guy sustained no injuries and the machine was undamaged bar a number of minor scuffs to the body.

The team were quick to bring the Streamliner back to the pit area to carry out an assessment and begin preparations to run again. Shortly after course officials informed the team that the course was to be closed for the evening for all motorcycles due to the conditions.

The team will now continue to prepare the Streamliner to run tomorrow. Both the team and Guy look forward to returning to the salt flats to continue the next stage of the Land Speed Record challenge in the morning.

16/09/2016

The sun is out at Bonneville this morning and the Triumph Motorcycles Land Speed team are well into preparations for today’s attempt to set a new motorcycle land speed record.

The team arrived this morning to beautiful sunny conditions and much improved track conditions. A number of the car competitors have already undertaken their first passes of the day and the team has confirmed that the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner will carry out its first run of the day at 11:30am.

“Spirits within the team are very high today and everyone is looking forward to getting our Land Speed Record attempt underway this morning.” comments Matt Markstaller, Crew Chief and Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer.

15/09/2016

Following this morning’s update, and after a further course inspection, Triumph Motorcycles, the company behind the 2016 motorcycle land speed record attempt at Bonneville, has confirmed that it has postponed running for today due to the course conditions.

While the track conditions continue to improve, this afternoon’s course inspection showed that there are still areas at the upper limits of the eleven mile salt flat course that are still too wet to safely undertake any runs at present.

Regular course inspections will continue to be conducted by the team throughout the rest of the afternoon and preparations have begun to ready everything for tomorrow’s scheduled runs.

“To perform at this level we need the optimum conditions – and today we didn’t quite have the course conditions we needed. We will be back on the salt tomorrow morning ready to go and we’re looking forward to getting underway with our record attempt” comments Matt Markstaller, Crew Chief and Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer.

15/09/2016

Triumph Motorcycles, the company behind the 2016 motorcycle land speed record attempt at Bonneville, has confirmed that its bid to regain the title has been delayed due to course conditions. There will be a further update early afternoon.

A series of rain storms, at Bonneville, at the start of this week, 13 – 16 September, 2016, has meant that the eleven mile salt flat course is still too wet at the upper limits of the course to safely undertake any runs at present. However the weather conditions are now good and the track conditions are improving hour by hour.

What’s been happening while we have been away from the salt?

07/09/2016

The last few weeks have seen the team begin final preparations for the Land Speed Record attempt, following its successful practice runs at Bonneville at the beginning of August. The practice week saw TT Legend Guy Martin get acquainted with the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner on the salt for the first time. Throughout the week, Guy and the Streamliner performed excellently and the test week came to an end with Guy setting a new Triumph record of 274.1 MPH, to become the fastest ever Triumph Motorcycle.

Pleased with the week’s work, Matt Markstaller, lead designer and crew chief of the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner, and his team, undertook the sixteen hour trip home from Bonneville to the team’s base in Portland, Oregon to begin final preparations.

Even though the Streamliner had only covered approximately 20 miles on the salt during the week, the first job that faced the team was the mammoth task of cleaning the entire vehicle. This is a very time consuming task, that takes the team an entire week to complete. During this time the Streamliner is cleaned up to four times, to remove the salt collected during each high speed run where it forces its way into each and every component.

Following the mammoth job of cleaning the Streamliner, the next task that faced the team was to begin removing and inspecting the major components. This process saw the team remove the engines to conduct a series of visual and mechanical checks.

During the engine inspection, the oil and filters are changed and a visual check is conducted for any wear or visible signs of stress points on both engines. With this complete, the engines were sent to the dyno to carry out a series of power simulations to re-check each unit’s performance and make sure everything is OK with the motors.

While the engines have been on the dyno, the rest of the team inspected the monocoque, suspension and drive train components. Each part has to be meticulously checked for any signs of wear or stress and then serviced and lubricated, before being refitted to the Streamliner.

The time back at their base in Portland was also used to change the specialist Goodyear Land Speed tyres. While normally a simple process on a road motorcycle, the process on the streamline involves 200 screws being removed and the wheel stripped, down before the tyre can be changed. The whole process is then reversed and, before both wheels are refitted to the bike, they are sent away to be checked to ensure they are balanced correctly and are structurally sound.

Due to the high speed the tyres need specialist preparation and testing. To do this, the team has to send the wheels and tyres to a specialist testing facility. This facility, is the only place in the USA that can undertake testing over 400 MPH and underload to ensure can cope with the stresses placed on them during the record runs.

With just a week remaining before heading back to salt final components are being refitted, the trailer is being packed and the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner is being loaded for the 16 hour return journey to the salt.

TRIUMPH CONFIRMS SEPTEMBER DATE FOR LAND SPEED RECORD ATTEMPT AT BONNEVILLE

23/08/2016

Following a successful practice session at the Bonneville Salt Flats, achieving a speed of 274.2 mph to become the world’s fastest ever Triumph , Triumph Motorcycles has confirmed the attempt to set a new outright motorcycle Land Speed World Record will take place mid-September, 2016, weather permitting.

Piloted by TT star Guy Martin the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner will return to the famous Bonneville salt flats and attempt to beat the current 376.8mph record speed on an 11 mile-long course. Despite having a good course surface for testing the team felt that the salt wasn’t yet fully capable of supporting a top-speed streamliner run. In consultation with FIM course manager Mike Cook the team are targeting the September dates as the best possible opportunity for the optimal course conditions required for the record attempt.

The practice week, which ended with the 274.2mph run on Tuesday 9th August, demonstrated that both the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner and rider Guy Martin are ready for the task ahead. Martin’s first week in the streamliner saw him master the controls of the 1,000bhp streamliner very quickly - achieving all of the goals set by Crew Chief and Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer Matt Markstaller and his team.

When asked about returning in September Markstaller commented: “We achieved a great deal during our test week at Bonneville and feel we are in a great position to move ahead with our record attempt. Guy settled into the streamliner very quickly and impressed us with the speed in which he mastered both the motorcycle and riding on the salt.

“While conditions were some of the best I have seen over the last few years, we feel there is still some room for improvement. When chasing a record such as this on two wheels the conditions have to be the very best they can be, to give us the greatest chance of achieving the speeds we require to set a new record. We feel that waiting a few further weeks will provide us with even better conditions and put us in the ideal position to make our record attempt.”

The Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner has become the world’s fastest ever Triumph by achieving a speed of 274.2 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats on 8 August, 2016. Piloted by TT legend Guy Martin, the streamliner smashed the previous official Triumph record that stood at 245.667 mph as well as the unofficial Triumph Record of 264mph, both set by Bob Leppan, in the Gyronaut X-1.

Near perfect conditions greeted the team on the final day of the team’s land speed practice week. With confidence high after a successful number of days running on the salt at Bonneville the team’s goal for the day with the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner was the Triumph record.

Just after 8:30am Guy Martin and the team set off on the first run of the day, after a steady start, Guy accelerated the sleek looking streamliner to a staggering 274.2 mph, rewriting Triumph history in the process. Just after the two mile marker Guy came to a controlled stop near to the team’s base camp to be greeted by the news that he had broken the 46 year old Triumph record.

Today’s record run is further proof of Guy’s growing confidence on the salt and commitment to breaking the World two wheeled Land Speed record. Throughout the week Guy has continued to impress everyone within the team with the speed in which he has been able to master the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner on the salt. Each time Guy has sat in the streamliner on the salt he has been able to achieve the goals set by Crew Chief and the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer Matt Markstaller and his team with the required level of control.

When asked about becoming the fastest ever Triumph record holder Guy commented: “It’s good and we are moving in the right direction, but it is just one step on the way to what me and the team are here to do.”

Triumph has a history of breaking the land speed record, holding the title of ‘World's Fastest Motorcycle’ between 1955 to 1970*. The record-breaking Triumph Streamliners included: Devil's Arrow, Texas Cee-gar, Dudek Streamliner and Gyronaut X1, the former achieving a top speed of 245.667 mph (395.28 km/h). Today's record, held by Rocky Robinson since 2010 riding the Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner, sits at 376.363 mph (605.697 km/h).

The iconic Bonneville name was conceived following Johnny Allen’s land-speed record runs at the Salt Flats in September 1956, when he reached the record breaking speed of 193.72 mph. The first T120 Bonneville model was unveiled at the Earls Court Bike Show and went on sale in 1959.